It's Bastille Day
Jul 14th, 2006 | 12:51 AM
#1
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It's Bastille Day
Happy/Merry/Bon Bastille Day.
We are going to a French restaurant here in San Francisco to celebrate tonight. My friend, who has gone there before for Bastille Day, is going with us, and said that it is a lively evening with an accordinist, good humor and good food.
Nina
We are going to a French restaurant here in San Francisco to celebrate tonight. My friend, who has gone there before for Bastille Day, is going with us, and said that it is a lively evening with an accordinist, good humor and good food.
Nina
Jul 14th, 2006 | 04:40 AM
#5
Joined: Feb 2005
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Living in Ottawa, does have a good advantage, there is a nice large French embassy and this afternoon we will be going to the reception for the 14 juillet.
I would prefer a little guinguette au bord de l'eau anywhere in France or better yet un bal des pompiers on rue de Sévigné but a least we have a nice consolation price.
Joyeux 14 juillet à tous les francophiles.
I would prefer a little guinguette au bord de l'eau anywhere in France or better yet un bal des pompiers on rue de Sévigné but a least we have a nice consolation price.
Joyeux 14 juillet à tous les francophiles.
Jul 14th, 2006 | 05:01 AM
#6
Joined: Aug 2003
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"<i>Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé!</i>" Happy Bastille Day to all! Enjoy some good French food today, to celebrate!
On my first trip to France (OK, it was 46 years ago), I took a train up to Paris for Bastille Day, to watch the big parade down the <i>Champs-Élysées</i> (street vendors sold cardboard periscopes with a pair of mirrors, in case you couldn't get close enough).
But my best Bastille Day was at a Club Med in Martinique, with Margie, on our honeymoon back in 1970. There was an all-day festival, starting with a parade through the village, with the G.O.'s (the <i>gentils organizateurs</i>, that is, the staff) playing the roles of typical citizens of a small French town (the firemen, the baker, the butcher, the town prostitutes, etc.). The parade wound down to the <i>Café du Port</i>, where the <i>Chef du village</i>, playing the mayor, gave a long and pompous speech dedicating a new structure below him on the plaza. When unveiled, it proved to be a <i>pissoir</i> (the sort of French outdoor urinal that used to be common in Paris).
The day then turned into one long feast, including conical trees of lobster tails, and a table centerpiece of roast suckling pigs, posed on the table standing on their hind legs (one was playing a small violin, and another had a <i>Gauloise</i> cigarette in his mouth). Later in the meal, the pigs were sliced, and proved to have been boned and stuffed with <i>patés</i> of different colors, forming a <i>fleur-de-lis</i> pattern.
Planter's Punch flowed freely. Locals from a nearby town came in a boat, and hovered off-shore to watch the crazy Frenchmen carrying on. A reveler swam out to the boat, sidestroke, carrying a tray of Planter's Punch, and offered it to our visitors. They thanked him, drank the punch, and rinsed the glasses in the water before putting them back on the tray, which he swam out to pick up.
There was a grand party in the evening, and fireworks, of course.
So find a way to celebrate Bastille Day today!
- Larry
On my first trip to France (OK, it was 46 years ago), I took a train up to Paris for Bastille Day, to watch the big parade down the <i>Champs-Élysées</i> (street vendors sold cardboard periscopes with a pair of mirrors, in case you couldn't get close enough).
But my best Bastille Day was at a Club Med in Martinique, with Margie, on our honeymoon back in 1970. There was an all-day festival, starting with a parade through the village, with the G.O.'s (the <i>gentils organizateurs</i>, that is, the staff) playing the roles of typical citizens of a small French town (the firemen, the baker, the butcher, the town prostitutes, etc.). The parade wound down to the <i>Café du Port</i>, where the <i>Chef du village</i>, playing the mayor, gave a long and pompous speech dedicating a new structure below him on the plaza. When unveiled, it proved to be a <i>pissoir</i> (the sort of French outdoor urinal that used to be common in Paris).
The day then turned into one long feast, including conical trees of lobster tails, and a table centerpiece of roast suckling pigs, posed on the table standing on their hind legs (one was playing a small violin, and another had a <i>Gauloise</i> cigarette in his mouth). Later in the meal, the pigs were sliced, and proved to have been boned and stuffed with <i>patés</i> of different colors, forming a <i>fleur-de-lis</i> pattern.
Planter's Punch flowed freely. Locals from a nearby town came in a boat, and hovered off-shore to watch the crazy Frenchmen carrying on. A reveler swam out to the boat, sidestroke, carrying a tray of Planter's Punch, and offered it to our visitors. They thanked him, drank the punch, and rinsed the glasses in the water before putting them back on the tray, which he swam out to pick up.
There was a grand party in the evening, and fireworks, of course.
So find a way to celebrate Bastille Day today!
- Larry
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Jul 14th, 2006 | 05:55 AM
#8
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norween, you're right, of course. Thanks for the reminder: Martinique is a <i>département</i> of France, and as such, is just as much a part of France as Paris.
French Francs were the local currency back then. Does that mean that in Martinique, the Euro is now used? (I haven't been there in a long time).
- Larry
French Francs were the local currency back then. Does that mean that in Martinique, the Euro is now used? (I haven't been there in a long time).
- Larry
Jul 14th, 2006 | 06:03 AM
#10
Joined: Jan 2003
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Nina--
You are going to the Jeanne d'Arc? We'll be there too.
This is our favorite SF restaurant.
www.cornellhotel.com
You are going to the Jeanne d'Arc? We'll be there too.
This is our favorite SF restaurant.
www.cornellhotel.com
Jul 14th, 2006 | 06:20 AM
#11
Joined: May 2006
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Neither have i heard any french person refering to 'Bastille day', just to 'fete nationale' (national day) or 'quatorze juillet'
And there is even an ongoing discussion about what is celebrated : the Bastille storming (14/07/1789) or the constition proclaiming (14/07/1780)
(and yes, Martinique uses the Euro now)
And there is even an ongoing discussion about what is celebrated : the Bastille storming (14/07/1789) or the constition proclaiming (14/07/1780)
(and yes, Martinique uses the Euro now)
Jul 14th, 2006 | 07:25 AM
#12
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RonZ - yes Jeanne D'Arc at 8:00PM. Let's do a mini GTG and toast France and the other Fodor Francophiles. Check your email for my email address if we be there at the same time.
DH used to work for French company Thompson CSF and every year they had a wonderful Bastille Day party and the office was closed. We celebrated in grand French style, with wonderful food and wine.
Nina
DH used to work for French company Thompson CSF and every year they had a wonderful Bastille Day party and the office was closed. We celebrated in grand French style, with wonderful food and wine.
Nina
Jul 14th, 2006 | 07:43 AM
#13
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Could someone who is proficient in French please phonetically spell out "14" in French? One of my bosses is French, and I'd like to say "Joyeux 14 juillet" to him - and I just can't remember how to say "14."
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jul 14th, 2006 | 06:03 PM
#18
Joined: Feb 2005
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I watched the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower this afternoon at www.abcparislive.com. They looked beautiful. Wish I could have seen it in person! Oh, well, September is just around the corner, isn't it?
Jul 15th, 2006 | 08:17 AM
#19
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RonZ and I had dinner at the Jeanne D'Arc last night --- at separate tables and with separate spouses! Gentleman that he is, he came to our table and introduced himself.
The French owner of the restaurant, from Orleans, and a former teacher at Alliance Francaise in San Francisco, stood on a chair twice during the evening and amongst other things wished, the mainly French diners - a "Happy Bastille Day". So I guess that _some_ French people do say that. Of course if he had been in France last night, he would have said it in French.
It doesn't matter how it is phrased, it's the meaning behind it. A good time was had by all.
Nina
The French owner of the restaurant, from Orleans, and a former teacher at Alliance Francaise in San Francisco, stood on a chair twice during the evening and amongst other things wished, the mainly French diners - a "Happy Bastille Day". So I guess that _some_ French people do say that. Of course if he had been in France last night, he would have said it in French.
It doesn't matter how it is phrased, it's the meaning behind it. A good time was had by all.
Nina
Jul 15th, 2006 | 09:20 AM
#20
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,357
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Yes, it was a great dinner and a pleasure to meet Nina, who is quite charming.
This was the fortieth year that Mr Lambert has hosted the Bastille Day dinner. He told us that he may give in to his wife's requests that he retire--a tragedy indeed!
For anyone traveling to SF, keep this gem of a hotel in mind.
This was the fortieth year that Mr Lambert has hosted the Bastille Day dinner. He told us that he may give in to his wife's requests that he retire--a tragedy indeed!
For anyone traveling to SF, keep this gem of a hotel in mind.
